ABC Eyes More Marvel TV Series

ABC's President of Entertainment indicates that the Hulk and Jessica Jones may be joined by other Marvel heroes.

Last year, Marvel Entertainment formed a new TV department and signaled its intent to bring more Marvel superheroes to TV. And while "The Incredible Hulk" and "AKA Jessica Jones" already seem destined for the network, they may not be the only Marvel shows coming to ABC.

“We’ve got a little glint in our eye that we’d love to make a Marvel franchise work on our network,” said ABC Entertainment Group President, Paul Lee at the TCA Press Tour (via The Hollywood Reporter). “We have the properties to do it, and [‘Hulk’ and ‘Jessica Jones’] won’t be the only two properties we do, either.”

“You want to make sure the show you’re doing fits the network it’s on,” added Lee. “A Big 10 network like ABC has a lot of room for experimentation. Our job as executives is to empower. The ability to allow showrunners to take those risks and for us to give them the support is one of the most important parts of our jobs. Empowered showrunners start to give their shows distinctive voices you haven’t seen on TV. Big failures come from that and you have to be ready to fall on your face. But brand-defining television comes from that. I encourage that; we don’t want cookie-cutter television.”

Lee was also effusive with praise for "Jessica Jones" showrunner Melissa Rosenberg ("Dexter") as well as Guillermo del Toro ("Hellboy") and David Eick ("Battlestar Galactica"), the creative team behind the "Hulk" reboot.

Of the first two potential shows, "Jessica Jones" features a relatively new character that debuted in Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos’ comic series, "Alias" (which was unrelated to the ABC series of the same name). "AKA Jessica Jones" is expected to be based directly on that comic and follow Jones after her failed superheroine stint in her ’20s as she reinvents herself as a private investigator a few years later.

"AKA Jessica Jones" may debut as soon as next Fall on ABC, but the "Hulk" reboot doesn’t currently seem to have a tentative launch date on it yet. But given the talent behind it, it seems likely to make the schedule.